


Midnights in Gotham

by Swingdelusion



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Character Study, Short
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-13 15:27:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29528466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Swingdelusion/pseuds/Swingdelusion
Summary: Short character exploration pieces I wrote to take a break from my major project right now. Leaving it open to come back to it.1-Mr Freeze2-Scarecrow3-Joker*****I urge you to read the notes at the end of any of the chapters.*****





	1. The Cold Circle

There she was. His old life, frozen in time.

Change the chemical balance, try a new recipe, do whatever it takes.

It’s never enough. No formula will ever be enough to resurrect the dead.

That’s what they say to him, they would never be his own words.

They are simply feelings twisted and implanted by outside forces.

Outside of his armor, the world was so cold. It was a world of ice and snow populated by jack frost and his countless agents which he did his best to protect himself from.

But the protection was never enough. Every encounter with the bat required him to try again.

He needed a suit, a new gun. Stronger armor, a faster freeze ray. And everything he built to fight the bat led him further and further away from his real goal.

The guns and weapons were never going to help her.

If she were here she would have hated what he had become.

Somewhere along the way the cold got into his suit and froze that heart of his.

His frozen heart pumped until all of his blood ran cold. Until all, he was had become a zombified husk propelled by new-age coolants.

And there he was on the ground once more.

Better armor, a faster gun, and a hole in his suit. Bleeding out before the bat.

The man took the silence of it all in before collecting himself and handcuffing him.

Another failed mission to save his wife led astray by his obsession with the man had led him in a circle, right back to Arkham.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *****  
> I wasn't going to post these originally, but I'd like to put them on here to promote a cause I think is very important and a charity seeking to fight it. If you just want to donate to help end homelessness you can skip the next paragraph, it is just my pitch to people on the fence.
> 
> Homelessness is a real problem. Recently a powerful cold front has hit Texas and knocked out the power and water of most of its residents. This means the homeless population of Texas was left out in the cold to freeze to death. To make matters worse this was during a pandemic so shelters, even if effective now, could quickly prove to be a deadly breeding ground for Covid-19. Research into the topic has proven that the most cost-effective way to solve homelessness is to give people homes (https://www.vox.com/2014/5/30/5764096/homeless-shelter-housing-help-solutions). This is why I would like to link to Habitat for Humanity to urge anyone out there with a spare dollar they don't know what to do with to donate to them. I have always believed that kindness is the most human emotion and that by showing it to especially the underprivileged we can make our society and the world a better place bit by bit. I don't have a powerful platform, but I do have this, a website in which I write fanfiction for my own enjoyment. If you're on the fence about them I'll link to their pitches, two infinitely better than mine. I think I should also add a disclaimer that I have no association with this charity just in case this is a real legal thing. I also hope this doesn't end up going again the AO3 rules for some reason, but if it does I'd ask you to tell me so I can try and fix what the problem is.
> 
> US: https://www.habitat.org/about/advocacy/united-states  
> International: https://www.habitat.org/about/advocacy/international
> 
> Donate: https://www.habitat.org/donate/?keyword=header-single-gift  
> *****


	2. The Fear of God

Church bells wrang, filling up the whole night with the unmistakable fear of god.

The fear of god always puzzled him. What is it you get when you spray a chistan with fear gas?

Is it god?

Some abstract concept such as death?

Hell perhaps?

It was hard for him to tell as they all seemed to blend together in his visions.

So perhaps god is all of these things.

Some would argue god is dead, simply a human contruct designed to instill order.

They would end up with a smack on the bottom and a bit of necessary starvation to help them really connect with god.

Where better to find him than in a dusty basement chained to the wall and finding yourself without food.

The fields of course.

He learned this when crying out for help.

He clawed at the slitted window above him on his third night and discovered god.

God had sent his emmisaries to stand watch over the cradle of human life. They stood watch in the fields as scarecrows, warding of the evil black birds of the devil’s court.

Just as he would ward of the black bat of Gotham.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *****  
> I wasn't going to post these originally, but I'd like to put them on here to promote a cause I think is very important and a charity seeking to fight it. If you just want to donate to help end homelessness you can skip the next paragraph, it is just my pitch to people on the fence.
> 
> Homelessness is a real problem. Recently a powerful cold front has hit Texas and knocked out the power and water of most of its residents. This means the homeless population of Texas was left out in the cold to freeze to death. To make matters worse this was during a pandemic so shelters, even if effective now, could quickly prove to be a deadly breeding ground for Covid-19. Research into the topic has proven that the most cost-effective way to solve homelessness is to give people homes (https://www.vox.com/2014/5/30/5764096/homeless-shelter-housing-help-solutions). This is why I would like to link to Habitat for Humanity to urge anyone out there with a spare dollar they don't know what to do with to donate to them. I have always believed that kindness is the most human emotion and that by showing it to especially the underprivileged we can make our society and the world a better place bit by bit. I don't have a powerful platform, but I do have this, a website in which I write fanfiction for my own enjoyment. If you're on the fence about them I'll link to their pitches, two infinitely better than mine. I think I should also add a disclaimer that I have no association with this charity just in case this is a real legal thing. I also hope this doesn't end up going again the AO3 rules for some reason, but if it does I'd ask you to tell me so I can try and fix what the problem is.
> 
> US: https://www.habitat.org/about/advocacy/united-states  
> International: https://www.habitat.org/about/advocacy/international
> 
> Donate: https://www.habitat.org/donate/?keyword=header-single-gift  
> *****


	3. Friendship

Two prison guards stand watch over the cell as the storm appears.

With a strike of lightning the Bat appeared out of nowhere. 20 years ago this would have been surprising, now it was redundant.

“What is it you want Batman?”

“I need to get in to see the Joker.”

This wasn’t his first visit by far. He stopped in at least once per month for a visit. The guards knew this because they were always on duty when it happened.

Sometimes Joker wasn’t here, then the Bat didn’t come. But whenever he was the two would lock themselves in that prison room and speak in hushed whispers so that they couldn’t hear them.

So they let him in again.

Every time he visited the two spent about half and hour to sometimes a little over an hour in what sounded like silence.

Who knows what the two were really doing in there?

Batman did!

So after their monthly mystery sesion was over he opened up the door, but before he could leave the curious guard stopped him.

“Hey, before you go!”

Batman turned.

“What were you doing in there?” He asked, but quickly corrected himself after realzing who he was talking to. “If you don’t mind me asking that is.”

To his surprise Batman looked at the Joker behind him who gave him the usual evil chuckle.

“Put in on a poster Batsy, I couldn’t care less who you tell about our dates.”

Batman then turned back to him and pulled a small square box out of his cape.

Was that chess?

“I come here to play chess with him about this time every month.”

“With...the Joker!”

“Why are you playing chess with the Joker? Surely some one of your intellect could just make a computer to play for him instead of risking him breaking out.”

The Joker chimed in from behind him.

“There no way I’d take advantage of our monthly-er-meetings and risk him stopping them, they’re just too much fun.”

“I’ve beaten all the computers I’ve gone against so it’s not much of a challange.”

“So the Joker’s actually a challenge!? How many times have you lost to him?” He asked, before once again reminding himself who he was talking to, “In chess I mean. Not in real life of course.”

“3.”

“Funny, I thought it was lower.” Laughed the Joker.

“Were you having an off day.”

“He was.”

A joker and a bat play chess. My how life turns out to be an infinite jest. And despite the nonsense and delusion I can’t help but think this is the best.” Cackled Joker as the door closed.

“And that’s not my losses.”

And with that the Batman left until next time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *****  
> I wasn't going to post these originally, but I'd like to put them on here to promote a cause I think is very important and a charity seeking to fight it. If you just want to donate to help end homelessness you can skip the next paragraph, it is just my pitch to people on the fence.
> 
> Homelessness is a real problem. Recently a powerful cold front has hit Texas and knocked out the power and water of most of its residents. This means the homeless population of Texas was left out in the cold to freeze to death. To make matters worse this was during a pandemic so shelters, even if effective now, could quickly prove to be a deadly breeding ground for Covid-19. Research into the topic has proven that the most cost-effective way to solve homelessness is to give people homes (https://www.vox.com/2014/5/30/5764096/homeless-shelter-housing-help-solutions). This is why I would like to link to Habitat for Humanity to urge anyone out there with a spare dollar they don't know what to do with to donate to them. I have always believed that kindness is the most human emotion and that by showing it to especially the underprivileged we can make our society and the world a better place bit by bit. I don't have a powerful platform, but I do have this, a website in which I write fanfiction for my own enjoyment. If you're on the fence about them I'll link to their pitches, two infinitely better than mine. I think I should also add a disclaimer that I have no association with this charity just in case this is a real legal thing. I also hope this doesn't end up going again the AO3 rules for some reason, but if it does I'd ask you to tell me so I can try and fix what the problem is.
> 
> US: https://www.habitat.org/about/advocacy/united-states  
> International: https://www.habitat.org/about/advocacy/international
> 
> Donate: https://www.habitat.org/donate/?keyword=header-single-gift  
> *****

**Author's Note:**

> *****  
> I wasn't going to post these originally, but I'd like to put them on here to promote a cause I think is very important and a charity seeking to fight it. If you just want to donate to help end homelessness you can skip the next paragraph, it is just my pitch to people on the fence.
> 
> Homelessness is a real problem. Recently a powerful cold front has hit Texas and knocked out the power and water of most of its residents. This means the homeless population of Texas was left out in the cold to freeze to death. To make matters worse this was during a pandemic so shelters, even if effective now, could quickly prove to be a deadly breeding ground for Covid-19. Research into the topic has proven that the most cost-effective way to solve homelessness is to give people homes (https://www.vox.com/2014/5/30/5764096/homeless-shelter-housing-help-solutions). This is why I would like to link to Habitat for Humanity to urge anyone out there with a spare dollar they don't know what to do with to donate to them. I have always believed that kindness is the most human emotion and that by showing it to especially the underprivileged we can make our society and the world a better place bit by bit. I don't have a powerful platform, but I do have this, a website in which I write fanfiction for my own enjoyment. If you're on the fence about them I'll link to their pitches, two infinitely better than mine. I think I should also add a disclaimer that I have no association with this charity just in case this is a real legal thing. I also hope this doesn't end up going again the AO3 rules for some reason, but if it does I'd ask you to tell me so I can try and fix what the problem is.
> 
> US: https://www.habitat.org/about/advocacy/united-states  
> International: https://www.habitat.org/about/advocacy/international
> 
> Donate: https://www.habitat.org/donate/?keyword=header-single-gift  
> *****


End file.
